


Heirs to the Rebellion

by Hermitage



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 00:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5518334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermitage/pseuds/Hermitage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the board is reset, and our heroes contemplate their next steps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heirs to the Rebellion

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic - I've storyboarded a bit and written chunks of the next six chapters, but not much is written, nothing's set in stone and I don't know how this ends. Pairings may be added and the rating may change.
> 
> (I've tagged for Poe/Finn - because look at them - but it's not going to be the focus of the story.)

Rey stood there, on the broken slabs, distantly aware of the sound of her heartbeat, distantly aware of the feel of mist and sea spray on her cheeks, distantly aware of the smell of salt and ozone, and so, so aware of the unblinking blue eyes of the man staring at her now.

The muscles in his jaw seemed to contract and clench, but his mouth did not move, and no sound came out. Shapes paraded across his face - his brow dipping and soaring as emotions Rey could neither name nor understand weaved their way through him. She stood there - arm and saber outstretched, chin jutted up, back straight - for a minute, or an hour, before he spoke; his voice thin, rusted, but crystal clear inside her head.

_"You have your mother's eyes."_

She felt a lightness as her vision narrowed; like a rushing river, images and garbled speech came to her, as they had on Takodana - _justlikeyourcousin_ skin aching under high desert sun _comeback_ the wail of hyperdrive activating below clouds _isthisher_ whistles and whirrs from the medical droid _soloud_ a clatter of applause in a room outside _bebraveforme_ a man screaming in the dark _issheasleep_ lashing, stinging rain _noNO **NO**_ a hand over her eyes -

Rey was distantly aware of the feel of moss and wet stone under her knees, distantly aware of the sound of her name being called as the man scrambled towards her, distantly aware of the taste of blood in her mouth as she bit into her lip, and so, so aware of those blue eyes fading as she fell forwards into the darkness.

***

When Rey came round, she was aware of several things at once. She could smell fresh bread - not like the survival rations Plutt hoarded, but real, fresh, baked bread, the kind the offworld trinket traders would sometimes produce at night when they came to buy direct from the scavengers. She could hear the low hiss of a fire burning, and the rattle and spit of a cooking pot; above that, she could hear a man’s voice, humming a familiar tune. Skywalker, she thought. When she opened her eyes, she saw a ceiling; it was made of stone slabs like the ones she was stood on before, when she was holding out a lightsaber. Where did she know that tune from?

“That was quite a scare you gave me.”

Skywalker’s voice, stronger than before, focused her mind. She sat up, pulling the thin blanket she’d been lying on around her shoulders, and looked around. The room - more of a cavern, really - had a dirt floor and no windows; a shaft of daylight came through a narrow staircase hewn into the rock above. Skywalker was kneeling in the centre of the room, facing her as he tended to the little stove in front of him. She didn’t quite know what to say.

“Where am I?”

“In the Temple,” he replied. “Just down those stairs from where you were. You were out like a light, so I brought you down here to rest.” The Jedi stands up gracefully, producing two clay bowls from somewhere about his robe and pouring a thick vegetable broth from the cooking pot into each. “Here, eat this; you’ve been out for a while.”

As she leant forward to accept the bowl from him, she felt a weight against her hip and frowned; the lightsaber was holstered in one of the loops of her tunic. After she took the bowl, he walked over to a little bench in a corner of the room and produced a small loaf of grey-coloured bread from a cloth bag. He spoke over his shoulder.

“The vegetables are from a little garden I keep at the foot of the island. The bread I make in a kiln that was here...well, long before me.”

She supped at the broth as he walked back with the bread; after she took a piece, he sat cross-legged in front of her. His eyes flicked briefly to the saber on her hip, but soon he seemed to be gazing at her face; he didn’t quite make eye contact, but seemed to be taking her in.

“Chewie’s gone fishing, if you were wondering,” he said, breaking the brief silence. “Artoo’s further down in the caverns; he’s not seen a Jedi temple in a while and I told him he was free to explore.”

She nodded, and frowned. “Do you know what happened to me up there?”

Skywalker nodded back. “A gift from the Force, I think; you Saw something, and it caught you pretty hard.” He exhaled, heavily, and climbed to his feet, walking back to the centre of the room. “Why did you come?”

A flare of irritation bloomed in Rey’s chest. She pushed it down. “Everyone’s looking for you. And I thought maybe you could help me with…” she trailed off and shrugged vaguely at him, pointing to herself. “With Force stuff. With - that you could train me as a Jedi.”

He closed his eyes and turned away. “I think...I think you should be careful what you ask for. Teaching’s not...not what I’m good at.”

Neither spoke for a while.

“Chewie says you’re a good pilot, you know. It’s not the sort of thing he takes lightly.”

Rey thought of Chewbacca’s screams, tearing through stormtroopers with his fists and his bowcaster after Han fell. He’d hardly spoken since they’d left Starkiller base; when he did, his growls had barely been above a whisper. She blinked a few times and swallowed away the unexpected lump in her throat.

"Well, I’m quite good with machines usually, and most ships are, you know…” she tailed off, again.

“Yeah,” he offered, distracted.

She remembered his earlier comments with a start. “You said before...you know my mother? You know who she is?”

He smiled at her; it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Yeah, I did. That was a long time ago now, but...yeah.” The smile softened, and his brow relaxed a little; he looked younger for it. “She was a pilot too, you know?”

She didn’t. Rey had never known anything about her mother. She felt like all the air leave her lungs. She managed to shake her head. Skywalker smiled again, but he wasn’t looking at her any more.

“She flew with the Rebellion once, in fact. I wasn’t there, but Leia was; she strapped herself into a decommissioned starfighter and took out a dozen Imperial satellites, even under fire from a Star Destroyer. It must have been quite something to see.”

Rey felt tears track down her cheeks. “What’s her name? My mother. Who is she?”

Skywalker looked at her again, eyes shining now, and grinned widely. “Her name was Sosha Soruna and she loved you so, so much.”

**Author's Note:**

> As I said, this is my first fanfic - I'm definitely a novice writer so harsh commentary is super welcome.
> 
> Next chapter will be on D'Qar...


End file.
